Repair guide
Refrigerator Not Cooling: What to Check Before You Call
Updated 10/11/2026
A refrigerator that has stopped cooling is not always broken. Several of the usual causes are things you can see and put right in a few minutes, without tools and without opening anything.
This guide goes through those checks in order, then the signs that the fault is inside the machine and needs a repair. Mend My Appliance repairs refrigerators at home across the Portland metro area.
Refrigerator repair in Portland
Before you check anything
- Unplug the refrigerator, or switch off its breaker, before you move it or reach behind it.
- Do not remove the back panel or any cover inside. That is where a home check ends.
- Move food that spoils quickly to a cooler with ice while you check. Perishable food that has been above 40°F for more than two hours should be thrown away.
What you can check yourself
The temperature setting
It gets bumped by cartons and by children. The refrigerator should be at or below 40°F and the freezer at 0°F. If the control shows a setting and not a temperature, start from the middle of its range.
The vents inside
The cold is made in the freezer and blown into the refrigerator through vents. Packages pushed against a vent stop the air, and an overfilled freezer does the same. Leave a hand's width free in front of every vent.
The door seals
A seal that is dirty, torn or out of its groove lets warm air in. Close the door on a sheet of paper: if the paper slides out with no pull, the seal is not holding there. Wipe the seal and the surface it meets.
The condenser coils
They are behind the grille at the bottom or at the back; on a built-in, behind the grille at the top. A coat of dust makes the refrigerator run warm and long. Unplug it and vacuum the coils gently with a brush attachment.
The space around it
A refrigerator gives its heat to the room. Pushed tight against the wall, boxed in, or standing in a hot garage in summer, it cannot.
The power
When the light is on but nothing is cold and nothing hums, check the breaker. Some models also have a showroom mode that turns the cooling off and leaves the lights on; the manual says how to leave it.
Time
After a large grocery load, a door left open or a power cut, a refrigerator needs up to a full day to come back to temperature.
Freezer is cold but the refrigerator is warm
This is the most common pattern, and it is usually not the compressor. The freezer is cold, so the cold is being made; it is not reaching the refrigerator. The usual causes: frost that has closed the coil because the defrost system stopped working, a freezer fan that no longer turns, or an air damper stuck shut.
What you can see from outside: frost or a sheet of ice on the back wall of the freezer, or a freezer fan that has gone quiet. Both mean a repair.
Not cooling after a power outage
Give it time first: a full refrigerator can take a day to recover. If nothing runs at all, check the breaker and try a lamp in the outlet. If the lights work and it still does not cool, unplug the refrigerator for five minutes and plug it back in: the control sometimes needs a restart after a surge.
A refrigerator that still does not cool after that may have lost a control board or a start relay to the surge. That is a repair.
Running all the time
A refrigerator that never shuts off is working against something: a dusty condenser, a door that does not seal, a hot room, or frost on the coil. If the checks above change nothing, and it runs without rest and still warms up, the sealed system may be low on refrigerant.
Compressor clicking, or not running
A click every few minutes, with a short hum before it, is the compressor trying to start and failing. Very often the fault is the start relay, a small part on the side of the compressor, and not the compressor itself. Either way it is a repair, and it is safe to unplug the refrigerator while you wait for it.
When the compressor runs, the fans run and there is still no cold in either section, the fault is in the sealed system.
What usually fails
- Evaporator fan motor: the freezer is cold and the refrigerator is warm.
- Defrost heater, sensor or control: frost closes the coil and the air stops.
- Condenser fan motor: the compressor runs hot and the cooling fades, most in warm weather.
- Start relay: the click and the hum every few minutes.
- Control board or temperature sensor: the refrigerator does not call for cooling, or calls at the wrong times.
- Air damper: stuck shut, it starves the refrigerator section; stuck open, it freezes the food.
- Sealed system (compressor, refrigerant leak, blocked tube): both sections warm while everything runs.
When to call for a repair
- Both sections are warm.
- You hear a click every few minutes.
- Frost or ice builds up on the back wall of the freezer.
- The refrigerator is still warm a day after these checks.
- It trips the breaker, or you smell something burning.
What a repair visit involves
- Book online: choose the appliance, describe the problem and pick up to three times that suit you.
- We confirm one of your times by phone or text. You are not booked until we do.
- We come to your home, test the refrigerator and find the cause.
- You get the price before any repair begins. We repair it with your approval; if a part has to be ordered, we come back to fit it.
The diagnostic visit costs $90. If you go ahead with the repair, the $90 is applied toward it; if you decide not to repair, the $90 covers the diagnosis.
Our work and the parts we install carry a 90-day warranty. The terms are printed on your invoice.
Repair the refrigerator or replace it?
It depends on the age of the refrigerator, the cost of the part and what a comparable new one costs. A diagnosis gives you the numbers for your machine, and the decision stays yours.
Where we work
We come to homes across the Portland metro area in Oregon, among them Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Tualatin and Lake Oswego. Enter your ZIP code when you book and the form checks it right away.